?Thee? Loves ?Thou? Momos, Not Loves ?Thou? Though: A Case of North East Women

The women’s day is a time to listen extraordinary stories of courage of women, to reflect and celebrate the progress made and the impact they made on the society. This year’s theme is “Equality for women is progress for all.” The main emphasis is on gender equality and women empowerment for social and economic development of all. But do we really walk the talk?

The last few days have been challenging for the people of north east in Delhi, especially for women from the far eastern part of India. What Delhi has witnessed is its racial side and a kind of segregation against the social and civil rights of a minority of citizens, due to ethnic prejudices. There have been several incidents of teasing and unprovoked violence which can be seen as clear racial and gender discrimination. The racial abuse has no place in any civilized society and should be at the top of the list of government agencies to work on. Ironically, the state Bhawan’s of north east only provide food or shelter. There are no real provisions to register grievances of people from north east. Are we getting intolerant as a society? In the year 2012, Bangalore witnessed mass exodus of people of north east on false rumors on social media sites.

We need to learn how to keep culture alive from Martin Luther King version of living legacy. “Living legacy” means that a person’s character can be so powerful that it continues to shape the moods of ordinary people decades into the future. No wonder a day is celebrated in America in the memory of Martin Luther King. A conflict that must be resolved to keep culture alive by igniting a discussion on values and principles, otherwise culture will decay and wither.

On the lighter note, to give this column a breather, I would like to share this information that Delhi tops as the city which loves consuming momos with fiery hot sauce. They are as popular here as they are in Lhasa or Sikkim or Darjeeling. Available at every street corner, high end restaurant, one cannot imagine how much experiment has been done with this mouth watering dish. So why can’t we start fresh and stop seeing women of north east as ‘State of being apart.’ The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to all. The day we understand this, then only we can understand the true meaning of celebrating women’s day.